This first report--necessarily a selective account--is an attempt to give a broad view of current developmental work in the field of language, increasingly a focus of concern in these post-bullock times. (Editor)

Argues that technical writing teachers will profit from linguistic research if they keep in mind that linguists set their own goals, develop their own trends, and establish their own priorities, because these facts force technical writing teachers to consider their linguistic requirements before they turn to linguistic research for answers to…

Proposes a way of conducting a research project that involves the teachers and provides a reliable grading scale for evaluating college students' ability to write compositions. (RB)

Examines the implications of the metaphor of the vocabulary network. Takes a formal approach to the exploration of this metaphor by applying the principles of graph theory to word association data to compare the relative densities of the first language and second language lexical networks. (Author/VWL)

Literature on foreign language anxiety shows a considerable amount of ambiguity arising from conflicting results of past studies. An attempt is made to show that these difficulties can be resolved given an awareness of the theoretical perspective from which this research has developed. (Author/VWL)

Examines the rule that indefinite pronouns (everyone, anybody, each, someone, nobody) take singular verbs and singular pronouns for agreement. Explores its past, proposes a revision of the rule, and suggests modifications in its application based on analysis of its actual use in English. (SR)

Discusses the types of overlapping speech, a common characteristic of speech that any annotation system must deal with. Critiques two types of current systems for marking overlaps. Describes software developed by the authors that not only accurately marks the boundaries of overlaps but presents them to the user in a readable format. (SR)

Finds that temporal markers modify the availability of preceding words: segmentation markers like "around two o'clock" and "then" reduce this availability, whereas continuity markers like "and" improve this availability. Supports the hypothesis that segmentation markers lead readers not to integrate new information…

Examines societies in which varieties and degrees of literacy are possible or ordinary, such as Japan and Korea. Finds that these societies have separate but functionally interrelated writing systems, used for communicatively disparate purposes, differential mastery of which, consequently, has social and economic repercussions. Finds that…

Constructs a language-centered perspective toward the social-rhetorical construction of knowledge by juxtaposing Kenneth Burke's philosophy of language with Thomas S. Kuhn's philosophy of science. Discusses rhetoric's epistemic status and the social constructionist account of discourse production. (HB)

Describe the specifically literary nature of engineering design and discusses preliminary evidence concerning how students of design engineering manage their literacy practice. (SR)

Traces the historical development of E-Prime (a form of English that eliminates all forms of the verb "to be"). Considers some reasons why E-Prime has been advocated by semanticists. Provides arguments against the use of E-Prime. (HB)

Considers the feasibility and usefulness of E-Prime (a form of English that eliminates all forms of the verb "to be"). Presents a modified version of E-Prime that differentiates between various uses of the verb "to be." (HB)

Argues that the implementation of E-Prime (a form of English that eliminates all forms of the verb "to be") as a means of eliminating bad language is a simplistic solution to the problem. Provides four reasons why this is the case. (HB)

Provides 10 brief and succinct arguments against the use of E-Prime, a form of English eliminating all forms of the verb, "to be." (HB)